Ghost Town
by Blue Eyed Dragon Girl
Summary: The entire crew compliment of Starbase 41 has disapeared and it is up Second year cadet Wesley Crusher to solve the mystery. With fellow cadets Jenna and Eddie, Wesley will venture through a ghost town and uncover the secrets of Starbase 41. Chap 9 is up!
1. Chapter 1: The Mission

Disclaimer: I obviously do not own startrekor any of its characters for if I did the theme song for _Enterprise _would NEVER have happened! Don't own wesley or starfleet/ Starfleet academyand Jenna and Eddie I just made up off the top of my head.

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Chapter # 1: The Mission

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Wesley sat at the piloting consol staring out into space. He had been sitting there for over three hours and was starting to get tired. _Why the hell did I offer to take the first night shift?_ Wesley thought to himself. He was used to sitting and working for long shifts from his time on the enterprise but that sill didn't make him any less tired or any less bored.

He looked back over his shoulder to the rear end of the shuttle craft to see both Jennifer (Jenna) Thompson and Edward (Eddie) Garason still sleeping soundly in their separate cots. Beside Jenna lay her half open copy of _Anne of Green Gables _that she had obviously had dropped when she fell asleep. All three of the them were second year cadets at Starfleet Academy and after nearly twenty hours in a cramped shuttle craft, all three of them were tired.

They had been given the mission of delivering some routine medical supplies to Starbase 41. The mission itself was not that dire nor was the need for these supplies. The real purpose of the mission was to test their knowledge of Starfleet protocol and reactions in real life situations. It was not the most glamorous of missions but unlike their battle filled missions on the holodecks, the risks here were real. If they were unexpectedly fired on by the Romulans, they would have to act and react like professional, fully commissioned, Starfleet officers, and if they got hurt or killed, there was no computer they could ask to freeze or reset the program. Mind you, the chances of them running into a Romulan warbird this far from the Neutral Zone was extremely unlikely. _More likely we get robbed by some Ferengi_. Wesley smiled cynically to himself. _Wouldn't be the first time._ The chances of ANYTHING happening though were pretty slim.

Wesley stifled a yawn. He was continuously aware of the fact that they were still being monitored by Starfleet. The shuttle was specially designed with the computer monitoring their every command and a holorecorder filming their every move. When they got back the data would be reviewed and they would be graded on their performance. This fact made the trip far less enjoyable because as a result, conversations (when they dared to occur) were kept short and impersonal for fear of appearing unprofessional or unintentionally insulting one of their examiners. He had heard too many horror stories of students letting certain inside jokes slip during the mission, or personal secrets being revealed, later to be viewed by teacher and have it held over them for the rest of their Starfleet career. It sounded a bit melodramatic but it had happened before.

_Bored... Bored... _Wesley began drumming his fingers on the consol. _One more hour and then I can sleep._ Eddie probably had a worse shift than him because he only got four hours of sleep before he had to relieve Wesley for his own shift and in comparison, that was probably more tiring than staying awake for twenty hours straight.

"Mmmm, go away you stupid monkeys…"

Wesley smirked as he looked back to see Eddie roll over in his sleep. Of all the things he'd actually learned on this trip, few had anything to do with Starfleet protocol. He learned that Jenna was allergic to peanut butter, Eddie talked in his sleep, and he hated the smell of musk perfume that someone in the last shuttle group had obviously spilled on one of the seats. That seemed to be the way of things in his practical studies at the academy. While he didn't want to brag, he, personally, had little to learn about Starfleet protocol that he didn't already know. Being a Starfleet brat and having the experience from the Enterprise made things like shuttle craft piloting and docking protocol second nature and practically childs play. For people like Jenna and Eddie though, who both had non-Starfleet parents, adjusting to the strict regime took a little more effort. Eddie constantly forgot about making log entries and was kind of controlling. Jenna was always leaving details out of her mission reports and could be very defensive if you caught in a bad mood. But from what Wesley could see, what they lacked in habit they made up for in pure talent. Jenna was a genius in computer programming and Eddie was one of the best pilots he knew. With some experience, he knew they would both make great officers one day. Not that he knew either of them that well. Wesley wasn't very close friends with either of his two assigned classmates, but he figured of all the people to get stuck with, these two he could at least count on to do their share of the work, so he certainly couldn't complain. He got along with them well enough , and for a simple mission like this, that was good enough.

Wesley yawned again returning to reality. He checked their ETA: eight more hours until they reached Starbase 41. He stood up for a moment to stretch his legs and then sat back down. He hoped when they got to the base that unloading the cargo took an extra long time. He seriously needed to take a long walk before his muscles became permanently cramped. _Man I hate shuttle crafts._

_To be continued..._

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I know! Not much happened in this chapter but it is an intro one so deal with it! Chapter 2 is already written and just needs to be typed. That should happen within a day or so. Chapter 3 is also almost done.

PLEASE review! Good or bad, friendly or flaming! I don't care. Just tell me what you think and be honest.

P.S. This is in no way a Mary Sue. That girl REALLY loves Wesley for some strange reason that I fail to seewhich is why I made a point of NOT giving Wesley a love intrest in this story! For those of you who know what I'm talking about, enjoy the Wesly/Mary-Sue romance free zone. For those of you who don't enjoy anyways.


	2. Chapter 2: A Call in the Night

_Disclaimer: Once again, obviously don't own StarTrek or any of its characters. Don't own Wesley (damn!), don't own starfleet/starfleet academy (double damn!), don't own the Enterprise (triple damn!), and don't own a starbase (wouldn't that be fun?)._

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Chapter 2: A Call in the Night

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Wesley awoke to the sound of a beeping consol. He looked up to see Jenna piloting the shuttle with a confused look on her face. She was furiously pushing buttons checking and rechecking the sensors for something amiss. 

"What's going on?" Eddie asked groggily. He had also been awoken by the beeping and was obviously annoyed to have his few hours of sleep cut short.

"Don't know," she responded. "I'm running a diagnostic on the sensors to see if they are malfunctioning.

"Well what do you THINK is going on?" Eddie moodily asked as he got up and walked up to the consol, too intrigued now to go back to sleep.

"Two coffees, black, hot," Wesley told the replicator. He handed one to Eddie as he joined them who responded with an appreciative nod.

"Well, according to the sensors, nothing at all." To this statement, Jenna received only confused looks from her fellow cadets. She decided to elaborate. "Well, we're about twenty minutes away from Starbase 41…" She turned to Eddie, "So you can stop giving me dirty looks for waking you up." Eddie only responded with a further deepened glare while Wesley smirked at the two. "ANYways, I sent a transmission informing the base of our arrival about an hour ago. I received no response but since the base is located in a magnetically charged area that tends to interfere with transmissions, I figured either our message hadn't gotten through or they were having trouble responding."

"Yeah, they mentioned that earlier in our mission briefing that we might run into some communication problems," said Wesley.

"Yes, well, that's what I assumed, but now that we're within hailing range we shouldn't be having any problems. The magnetic energy levels are low enough that they only tend to interfere with long range transmissions. We shouldn't be having any problems with our short range."

"So what's wrong with them?" Wesley asked.

"Nothing. That's the thing. I've run a diagnostic of them and nothing's wrong. Nor is ther anything wrong with the communication systems on the base, at least not according to our sensors. I've hailed the base three times now with no response. I've confirmed that they are receiving our hails, they're simply not responding."

They all sat there for a moment thinking the situation over in silence. They looked amongst each other and had all come to a similar conclusion. One of two things had happened. The first, most likely conclusion was that this was a test. They had found at the academy that many of the tests they were given were unannounced and unexpected. Sometimes they didn't even know they were being tested. Wesley could still remember vividly his psych test. He'd been so nervous and had no idea what to expect. They told him to wait in some little room, all alone where he'd wait to be tested. When he was in there he heard an explosion. The next thing he knew he was dragging some man with a broken leg out of a room. There had been another man that he'd had to leave behind. He remembered feeling so guilty about leaving him but he had only been scared and the other man was hurt and not able to help himself. When he got out, Wesley was greeted by his examiner who, a little too calmly, told him that that had been the test. The man with the broken leg stood up, shook his hand, and walked away, and the man he'd left behind came out without a scratch, nodding at Wesley as he walked by. Wesley had been in a daze for hours after that, still trying to figure out what happened, or how he hadn't seen that coming.

The first conclusion was a more relieving one as no one ever got hurt or killed in these tests. Heck! They were never even in any real danger, they just thought they were.

The second conclusion was the one they were going to have to base their decisions on. It was that something has happened on the base that was preventing them from responding, Even if they suspected the situation to be set up, they had to treat it as a real emergency. What worried the cadets the most though was that if it really was a real situation and a real emergency, that meant that the possible danger they faced was real as well. It also meant that it was possible that one of the reasons they weren't able to respond was because the people of Starbase 41 were dead. Wesley had seen it before. More than once the crew of the Enterprise had encountered ghost ships, with the entire crew dead floating silently in space. He had seen ruins of entire civilizations. He had even piloted through a grave yard of ships when the Borg attacked. The Borg had taken out an entire fleet leaving no survivors. He knew the risks. He had seen this happen several times before and would most likely see it again in his life. It was unfortunate but always a possibility.

Wesley looked at his fellow cadets. He could tell that they weren't ready to accept such a morbid idea as a possibility. They still treated the universe as if it followed the same gentle, civil laws of earth where life was fair and the innocent were protected from the violence of unknown aggressors. He doubted they even realize how many aggressors there were. It didn't matter. They would discover this for themselves eventually. For now, he figured, taking a more optimistic approach was probably in their best interest anyways.

"Scan for life signs," Wesley said. Jenna, who usually did not appreciate taking orders from fellow cadets, responded immediately.

"Anything?" Eddie asked. Wesley could hear the growing concern in his voice and could see his knuckles turning white as they gripped the consol more tensely.

"Scanning…" Jenna burrowed her eyebrows in concentration. They all stood tense with anticipation as Jenna's hands flew back and forth across the consol, checking, comparing, and rechecking her readouts. Her look of concentration was slowly turning into one of confusion and both Eddie and Wesley could tell something was wrong.

"Well?" Eddie asked impatiently.

"I'm checking…"

"That's it! Let me do it. Scanning doesn't take his long." Pushing his way into the seat beside Jenna, Eddie impatiently began running his own scan. Jenna raised her hands in surrender as she watched Eddie slowly come to the same conclusion she had in her past two scans. "This can't be right!"

"That's what I though, but I ran the scan twice."

"What is it?" Wesley asked. He knew now for sure that something was wrong..

"Maybe our sensors are misconfigured. A self diagnostic wouldn't pick that up."

"They were reconfigured right before we left. It's not the sensors."

"What's wrong? What are you reading?" Wesley asked again.

"Well maybe we're running into some unknown interference. Either way, this can't be right."

"I don't think so. As much as I don't want to admit it, I'm pretty sure these read outs are correct."

"But how can that be? Where did they all go?"

"Uh, guys? Are you listening?" Wesley was starting to get annoyed.

"I don't know, but according to our scans, their obviously somewhere other than there."

"GUYS!" Wesley yelled. Both Jenna and Eddie jumped at Wesley's sudden outburst. They turned to see an annoyed Wesley obviously awaiting their response.

"What is it Wesley?" Jenna asked.

"What do the readings say? Wesley asked looking fairly exasperated.

"Oh! Sorry. Well, according to our sensors-"

"Which must be wrong," added Eddie.

"Yes, well, according to them, there are absolutely no life signs coming from Starbase 41."

_To be continued..._

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_Ohh! A cliff hanger! And look! Only one day later do I post chapter two! Yeah me! Man, am I a fast typer or what?_

_ALSO: Guess what? Chapter 3 is almost done too. It should be posted within the next few days. Hope you are enjoying the story thus far. The beginning of the mystery is just starting to be introduced so watch out for more future, soon to come, twists. (The story pace will pick up! Promise!_ ; )

_Once again! Please read and review! You're input, whether it is good or bad, fabulous or flaming, is always appreciated! Just be honest! That's all I ask! Thanks!_


	3. Chapter 3: Dead men tell no tales

_Disclaimer: I obviously do not own Startrek or else I wouldn't be writing fan fiction for it. Duh! I don't own Starfleet/Starfleet academy (who needs more school anyways?), don't own Wesley (although that is a fantacy of mine) and I don't own a starbase.(Although I do have a figurine of one. Does that count?)_

_For reviewing thanks a bazzilion to:_

_Star trek freak: Cadets rock! I know! It would be cool to have a series about them! By the way, I happen to enjoy the romances too! I've certainly had a fantasy or two (staring moi!) about having various adventures with the Startrek gang. That Wesley's a cutie and he seriously needs a girl! (like moi! which is why I truly enjoyed Till death due us part. Just take out Katherine and put in me and its all good! lol!)_

_itsonlyme: If only! If only! We all wish we could own Wesley... and our own star base. I too am a sucker for romances, I'm just not good at writing them and got a little tired of them after reading 2 million of them in the Wesley section. (We all have dreams!) Thanks for the support. _

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Chapter 3: Dead men tell no tales 

"None?" Wesley asked. "No life signs at all?"

"None that the sensors are showing," Jenna responded.

"You're right Eddie. That is strange."

They all sat in silence for a moment, unsure of what to do next. What does someone do in a situation like this? None of them were sure. It was not something they had a standard procedure for like they would if they were under attack. After sitting there for several more moments Wesley finally broke the silence.

"Well… I guess we have two options," he said tentatively. "We can turn around and go back to the academy or the nearest starbase and wait for further orders. That is what most people would probably expect us to do in a situation like this."

Both Jenna and Eddie nodded in agreement with this option. They certainly didn't know how to deal with this. They were only second year cadets. Most third and fourth year cadets would probably do the same and with no other starships in the area to call on for help, it didn't make sense for them to stay in a possibly hostile situation.

"What is the second option?" Jenna asked. She was curious of what else Wesley had in mind that they do. She certainly couldn't think of anything.

"Well, our only other option that I can see is that we investigate this ourselves." Both Jenna and Eddie's jaws simultaneously dropped. "We could just send Starfleet a message informing them of our situation and what we plan to do. I mean all we really know is that we can't detect any lifesigns. That doesn't mean there is no one there or that we're in any danger. Like Eddie said, this could just be a technical problem."

Once Eddie and Jenna recovered from their initial shock, they began to let the logic of Wesley's arguments sink in. They eyed Wesley curiously as they consider the prospect of them actually attempting to investigate. The idea of them trying to solve this mystery by themselves seemed a little iffy, but then again, it wasn't completely out of the question. This **_was_** what they were training at the academy for and there wasn't any actual danger that they could see. They could end up flying all the way back to the academy just find out it was just some technical problems and they could have delivered their cargo all along. All in all, it did make some sense to them. Besides, they might get bonus marks for this, especially if they do manage to figure out what is going on.

"Yeah, well I **_am_** usually right about these things," Eddie said as Jenna rolled her eyes.

"Both options seem fairly logical," Jenna said. "But I don't know. We might be in more danger than we think. This is a shuttle pod, not a science vessel. Our scanning ability is fairly limited. I say we vote on it. Who wants to investigate and who wants to go back? I say go back. This situation is too big for us. We could be getting ourselves in over our heads."

"Well I say investigate. Us MEN aren't afraid to take a few risks, eh Wes?" Eddie said nudging Wesley.

"**_He_** hasn't voted yet Eddie," Jenna said sending him a lethal glare. "And it appears that you have the deciding vote Wesley. They were both your ideas. What one do you believe more?" Jenna asked eyeing Wesley challengingly.

Wesley fidgeted. He was beginning to feel extremely uncomfortable under both their gazes (particularly Jenna's which could be very scary some times). Wesley swallowed hard as he contemplated his choice. He finally spoke. "Well… I guess we should investigate. I mean, if the situation does get dangerous we could always just leave. At least this way if we do leave then we can give Starfleet a better reason as to why we left."

By this point Eddie was smirking quite openly at Jenna who only responded with a glare directed at both Eddie and Wesley as well. With a sigh, Jenna relented to the fact that there was no way of changing either boy's minds, but she still didn't like it, which was why she was certainly not going to make it easy for them. She turned to Wesley and smiled.

"Well then Wes, since you're the idea man, where do you propose we start this little investigation?" Jenna asked, obviously going out of her way to get back at Wesley for not siding with her.

Eddie sent Wesley a questioning look. He had assumed since it was Wesley's idea, he might actually know how to conduct this investigation and would be seriously annoyed if Jenna ended up getting her way making them both look like fools.

"Well, I…" Wesley didn't know what to say. Without his consent, they had both simultaneously elected Wesley team coordinator (even if it was for different reasons) and were now expecting him to give them some idea of where to start. Wesley hated taking command, so he just said the first thing thought that came to his head. "Uh, I suppose we should start with the obvious stuff. If there was an attack or some sort of emergency there would be physical evidence of that. We could check for that." Wesley looked to Eddie as he said this who nodded in approval. He continued. "Also, since we aren't reading any life signs we should check for any escape pods in the area and see if any are missing from the base. If we can we could even check their transporter records to see if anyone beamed off the base onto another ship." By this point Jenna's gaze was starting to soften as realized he did have some idea of what he was doing. The look on her face told him that he should continue before she changed her mind. With this Wesley decided to be bold enough to assign tasks while silently praying no one objected. "So… to start maybe, Eddie, you could make the initial scans of the base. Check for any damage or signs an attack, any missing escape pods, and check for debris as well."

"Sure thing," Eddie responded enthusiastically. He made a point to send Jenna one last cocky smile before starting on the scans.

_One down, one to go._ Wesley turned to Jenna, "Jenna, maybe you could check our computer records? Find out anything you can on the base, like what they were working on recently. All they said at the briefing was that it's a scientific research base. They might have been working with some dangerous substances and had to evacuate because of an accident. Also, maybe you could check out their crew compliment too. It'd be good to know just how many people are missing. I could send the message to Starfleet while you do that and see if I can tap into the base's computer system and access some of their records."

Jenna paused for a moment. Wesley could only assume it was to savor the memory of Wesley's pleading look while giving her the commands. Finally she relented, nodding to Wesley in agreement and went off to get started. Wesley sighed in relief as he watched her go. He wasn't exactly sure what he would have done if she had said no. Luckily for him, he ended up not needing to find out. It certainly would have made things **_a lot _**more challenging.

With that, Wesley got started as well. He could already tell that this would be one of his easier tasks for him to face in the times to come. _"Well, this should be fun," _he thought cynically to himself. _"I can hardly wait. Then again, you know what? I think I can!"_ Although he doubted either way he would end up getting much choice in the matter. He sighed once more and then dove determinedly into his work for at themoment it was all he could think of to do.

_To be continued…_

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_Oh! The sound of foreboding mystery! Don't you just love it? And here you see, one day later is chapter three. (go me with the rhyming! eh?) Chapter four is in the works and should be out in the next few days. No worries people! I have no life giving me plenty of time to write and update. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and the story so far. More to come soon! _

_Please, once again, review! Whether good or bad, helpful or horrifying! All reviews are greatly appreciated, exspecially if they are honest ones! I like to know what people like and don't like about the story! Thanks again!_


	4. Chapter 4: Questions without Answers

_Disclaimer: Don't own startrek or any of its characters, blah blah blah! You know the drill! I am obviously NOT making any money from this. I just happen to enjoy writing!_

_For reviewing special thanks to:_

_Its me, get over it: You know what, I reread the first chapter later on and thought the same thing, but it does get better and I can't really go back and change it now. Thanks for the honesty, its what I prefer over any type of praise. I've got no beef with critisism, especially considering this is the first story I've posted. _

_Itsonlyme: Thanks for the suspence compliment. As for Eddie, I HAD to add him. I can only make Wesley cynical and sarcastic to a certain point before he starts losing his original character. Eddie lets me get out all my needs for sarcasim and lol moments. He's basically my inner teenager taking form. Jenna is the reflection of my inner grumpy b side. Mold them together and you get me. Wes can be boring and too seriouson his own so I decided to give himfunny sarcasticfriends who fight and lighten the mood abit._

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Chapter 4: Questions without Answers

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"Damn it!"

Wesley cursed under his breath. He had once again run into another dead end. For the past hour Wesley had been attempting to establish some sort of a link with the computer systems on Starbase 41 and so far, he had failed in every attempt. The security for this base was top level and it didn't seem to mater to the computer system that it was a federation ship trying to make contact, not an alien intruder. The computer system for this base just didn't want anyone checking their files, whether it be transporter records, cargo manifests, or even docking schedules.

Wesley shook his head defeat. It seemed more and more apparent to him that the only way he was going to find out anything would be to physically go to the base and check their records through one of their own computer terminals. And that was a step he wasn't sure he was ready to take.

Wesley looked over to his fellow cadets to see how they had been doing for the past few hours. All Wesley had been able to do was send a Starfleet a mission update which took him a total of only five minutes to do. He wasn't even sure it had made it to them because of the magnetic interference. Beyond that he had nothing to show for his struggle and by the looks of things, his comrades obviously appeared to be having more luck than him. Both wore a look of concentration as they worked tediously at their duties and both seemed to be getting some results. Whether these results were good or bad was something Wesley was not sure he wanted to know.

"So what have you guys found so far?" Wesley asked.

"Not much," Jenna said as she swung around in her chair. "I've checked our computer records, which, might I add, are very limited considering the fact that this is a shuttle pod computer library which I've been checking-"

"Just get to the point Jenna," Eddie interrupted.

"I'm getting there," Jenna said starring daggers in Eddie's direction. "As I was saying, I haven't found very much. From what the records showalmost allof the research on the base is classified. They won't even mention what kind of research is being done let alone the types of experiments they are doing over there."

"Well that would at least explain why they built this starbase where they did." Wesley said.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if the base was built for the specific purpose of running classified research, and they want to keep security tight, this is probably one of the best areas they could of built it in. The natural magnetic field would make it that much harder for someone to send a long range transmission, let alone leak classified information."

"It makes sense. I mean, I wasn't even able to get an exact crew compliment because the list of scientists working has been deemed classified. I've got a number for the medical and maintenance staff, but that's all. There could be a hundred more researchers and scientists there that we don't even know about but we have no way to find out."

"So basically what you're saying is we know as little about the base now as we did before?" Eddie said. "Well that was helpful, now wasn't it?"

"Actually, it **_was _**helpful Eddie," Wesley replied to the surprise of Jenna.

"It was?" Jenna asked. Although she was glad she was in the right for this argument, for the love god she couldn't figure out why.

"How so?" Eddie asked questioningly.

"Well, for one, we now know why for the past hour I haven't been able to link up to the base's computer system to access their records," Wesley said. "It's because everything is classified. We also know that whatever they were doing over there must require major security, so we're going to have to proceed with extra caution if decide to dock with them at some point."

"More like **_if_** we can dock with them," Eddie said cynically.

"Yes, well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Another thing we've learned is how many people are missing. Or at least we have an idea. What was the number for the listed staff on the base?"

"With both medical and maintenance staff it totaled at 112 people," Jenna replied. "We can only assume there must have been a high population of science staff, but like I said their names and the number of them are classified."

"Starfleet just **_loves_** to make things challenging, don't they?" Eddie said sarcastically.

"It certainly seems that way," Wesley replied, "So what did you find out Eddie? Any escape pods missing? Any sign of an attack?"

"No and no. Go figure, I found about as much as you guys did. There was no debris, no sign of an attack, and all the escape pods were in place. Not even a sign of an explosion within the compound. Everything seems to be functioning fine over there. No fires, no warp core explosions, no nothing. It's like everyone just disappeared into thin air."

"Weird," Jenna said.

"Very weird. But on the bright side, I can also confirm that I've detected nothing dangerous in the area which means we could probably go over there without being in any danger to ourselves."

"Not necessarily," Wesley said to the surprise Jenna and Eddie.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that just because we can't detect any Romulan warbirds or see any sign of a fight doesn't mean that the base is safe. There are other enemies out there that don't carry phasers or weapons. Ones that are a lot deadlier than the ones we hear about in class."

"I'm not following you Wes," Jenna said with concern growing in voice. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying they may not have disappeared at all."

"What? What are you talking about?" Eddie asked, his eyes getting wide. "We scanned the base for lifesigns, no one is there."

"No Eddie, no one **_alive_** is there. You wouldn't pick up any lifesigns if everyone there is dead, which is what I believe may be the greatest possibility of what happened. I think that it's very much possible that the people of Starbase 41 are still there, but the reason we're not detecting any lifesigns, is because everyone there is dead, and something on that base killed them."

_To be continued…_

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_Cue the cliff hanger music. Once again I am keeping up with my one chapter a day record! Go me! Especially considering I wrote this chapter the same day I posted it. True, not much happened, but all the necessary info stuff happened so now comes the adventure stuff in the near future. Hope you're enjoying the story so far. _

_Once again, please review! Whether good or bad, fantastic or flaming, I just want the truth.All critisism is GLADLY appreciated and always welcome. I want to know what I'm doing wrong. _

_Thanks._


	5. Chapter 5: Brain Eating Monsters

_Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek, Wesley Crusher, the Enterprise, Starfleet Acadamey, or my own starbase, or blah blah blah copy right infringment stuff!_

_Sorry it took me so long people! There goes my one chapter a day record. Oh well! I had run into a bit of slump, not in terms of what to write, but more of whether or not I felt like writing. Sometimes laziness just takes over. Sad but true! ANYways, sorry! But here is the next chapter, all done!_

_For your reviews, special thanks to:_

_BlueFairyDust: While I thank you for your reviews, b.f.'s don't really count as reviewers (especially when they don't even like Startrek), but thankyou anyways for the compliments._

_Itsonlyme: I surprised ya huh? Yeah! Good cuz that was the point. Glad you liked it and thanks for the support. (I know, I love Eddie too! His lines areSOO much fun to write!)_

_Starangel4eva: While I thank you for writing it would have been good for you to actual say SOMETHING about the story in the review section. If ya wanna contact me email is fine. Thanks anyways._

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Chapter # 5: Brain Eating Monsters

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"Dead!" both Jenna and Eddie exclaimed. Both cadets were shocked by Wesley's suddenly morbid change in perspective.

"Whoa, whoa, WHOA there! Don't you think that's taking things a little too extreme here? I mean all dead? That's a very big assumption to make." Eddie had had his worries before but the way Wesley had so bluntly voiced such a horrible possibility had deeply disturbed him. They had always told the cadets of the risks and dangers they would be facing in their duty, but only now was Eddie slowly starting to realize the true reality of it. It was the kind of thing you could never truly understand until you had experienced it. He now turned to Wesley with a new respect for his fellow cadet and a new understanding. He had never known Wesley very well and had always scoffed when hearing tales of his experiences on the Enterprise, which Wesley surprisingly bragged little of, but now he gained a new admiration for the ability Wesley would have needed to face such frightening dangers. He wondered if Wesley was frightened now. He really didn't want to be the only one.

"I have to agree with Eddie on this one," Jenna said. "What kind of creature could kill off an entire starbase crew?"

"I never said it was a **_creature_** that killed them," Wesley replied. "I'm not even saying they ARE dead. I'm just saying that the evidence so far makes it the most likely possibility. I mean think about it. They were conducting **_classified_** experiments. For all we know they could have been conducting medical research and accidentally released a deadly virus or toxin on the base. They wouldn't be able to send a long range transmission for help and they couldn't send anyone for help for risk of spreading the hypothetical disease. Everyone on the base gets sick and dies. No gun shots, no alien attack, just an unfortunately fatal accident. I've seen it happen before."

"I guess that makes sense. Plus, your theory could apply to any number of variations of their field of research. They take an already dangerous warp physics experiment a little too far and they blow themselves up."

"Well, actually we confirmed they **_didn't_** blow themselves up but I do still like your brain eating mutated monster theory from before," Eddie said with a smirk.

Jenna smacked Eddie up side ht head but actually let a smile crack at Eddie's remark. "Looks like it already ate **_your_** brain a long time ago," she said sending Eddie a sly smile.

Eddie grabbed is heart while giving an overdramatic look of pain on his face. "Oh! I'm wounded!"

"If only," Jenna replied rolling her eyes but looking amused none the less.

Wesley snickered at the bickering couple, relieved by their light hearted jesting. Mostly because it took his mind off the problem at hand which they unfortunately had to get back to work on.

"If you two are done, maybe we could continue?" Both nodded, relenting but each sending each other a challenging stare. "As I was saying, we just don't know what they were doing and we can't tell anything more from here." Wesley sighed. "So I guess we're back to our first two options. We can either head back to Starfleet with the information we've gathered so far and let someone else investigate the incident or we can take a chance and see what we can find on the base ourselves."

Wesley wasn't very sure of what he wanted to do. One part of him was telling him to head back to Starfleet and let some trained professionals handle it from here. It was the part of him that was telling him that he was just a cadet and he wasn't prepared to face the dangers that lay of him. It was also the part of him that was scared out of his mind. Another part of him actually wanted to go the base and was surprisingly excited at the prospect of solving such a great mystery. He had never considered himself much of an adventurer but he had always been a problem solver and that part of him was screaming at him, begging him for the chance to solve such an intriguing puzzle. Then there was a third part to Wesley which had a lot to do with pride and would essentially be the deciding factor in his struggle. It would decide where his logic started and his fear let off and if he could take not taking the risk. In the end his pride decided that he probably would be kicking himself for the rest of his life if he chose not to explore that base, but just as he was about to announce this conclusion, Eddie beat him to the punch.

"I say we go to the base. We've come this far and I personally never liked having other people finish what I started."

"Me too," Wesley replied. "We may regret this later but I'll regret this forever if we don't take this chance." They both then looked to Jenna. They would need a unanimous vote to take such a big risk. It wouldn't be fair to force her to take such a dangerous step against her wishes. Not when their very lives could be at risk. So they, in unison, decided to give her the puppy dog eyes.

Jenna sighed, "Do we have any bio suits? This isn't even an option if we don't."

"We do," Eddied replied eagerly. "Four of them. That's enough for all of us plus one spare."

"Hmm." After moments of contemplating Jenna finally gave in. "Fine, but at the first sign of trouble we leave. No arguments."

"Deal," Wesley and Eddie said in unison.

"That means the first mangled corpse, the first faulty system, the first unpredictable experiment we run into, we leave. No hero stuff. No unnecessary risk taking. If someone really wants to leave, we go, no convincing them to stay. We all agree or we don't go at all. Got it?"

"Got it," Eddie replied. "When we find your brain eating monster I **_swear_** I will scream like a girl and run away. Scouts honor," he grinningly said placing his right hand over his heart and raising his other in a salute.

Wesley gave a muffled snort of laughter, trying to restrain himself as he watched Jenna once again give Eddie a swift smack up side the head. Little did they know that this would be one of the last few times in their mission they would be able to enjoy such care free jesting before they ventured into the unknown dangers that awaited them on Starbase 41.

_To be continued…

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I know, it was a filler chapter but a necessary one! Don't worry! I've already started chapter 6 so it should be up in a day or two and SPOILER: They will actually be arriving at the starbase in this one. So the ball is FINALLY rolling! Sorry it took so long to get to this point but it wouldn't be real Trek without the techno bable and procedure!_

As always, please review! Whether good or bad, fantastic or flaming, I don't care. Just be honest. I have no probs with flames if you really hate it that much, just tell me why and I'll keep that in mind for next time. I have no probs with critisism! It helps me improve my writing.

Thanks!


	6. Chapter 6:Doorway to the Unknown

_Whohoo! My chapter is done! Didn't take as long as last time! Last time took a few weeks but I was searching for my muse! Found it! It was under my bed! Go figure! Hope you enjoy this one! Ends with a cliffy!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own startrek, blah blah blah! Yadda yadda yadda! You get the point!_

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Chapter 6: A doorway into the unknown

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"Clunk!"

The ship gave a sudden shudder as it docked with the base. The base itself had no docking bay and instead had several ports located in various areas of the outer base. This fact worried the cadets a bit because it meant that when they ventured into the base it their ship would be completely unprotected from any outside forces. Not that the starbase had many outer defenses, it was more the idea that that shuttle was their only way off the base beyond the escape pods, which wouldn't do them much good if they had to leave the area in a hurry.

"Docking complete," Eddie said while pressing various buttons on his consol. "Airlock secure." They heard a _whoosh_ sound as the separate room pressurized.

Behind Eddie Jenna and Wesley were suiting up in their bio suits and packing their remaining gear.

"So how much time do we have in these things?" Jenna asked picking up her helmet.

"36 hours," Eddie replied. "More if you try holding your breath for part of the time."

"Hey, you know what? I bet you could get even more hours in there if you didn't talk for the **_whole_** time." Jenna quipped.

"I don't think that's going to be an issue anyways guys," Wesley said, trying to keep the peace. "I don't know about you two, but I don't plan on spending any more time on there than I have to and I certainly don't think it will take us that long to get the information we need. We just need to get in there, take some scans, maybe establish a data link with their computer, check some of their logs, and look for any obvious signs of what went wrong over there."

"Oh? Is that all?" Eddie asked sarcastically.

"It just sounds long but it shouldn't take us more than a few hours and once we have the data link we don't even have to be attached to gather information," Jenna said. She put on her helmet, "So, what are we waiting for?"

"Eddie actually," Wesley replied, "Who, now that I think about it, should probably stay with the shuttle."

"What?" he exclaimed spinning around in his chair. "Come on, I'll only take a second to get suited up. Besides, I was the one who wanted to go here the more than anyone else, certainly a lot more than Jenna." he said with some added distaste to his voice.

"Eddie, you're the best pilot here and you know it. If we need to make a fast get away then we should have someone here ready to go at a moments notice. Besides, we're going to need someone to coordinate the search over the com and watch the shuttle."

"So basically what you're saying is while you two get to explore the base, I get to babysit the shuttle and act like your personal secretary"

"No," Wesley replied with some added sternness to his voice, "you get to coordinate the search over the com and watch the shuttle. We can't all go and leave the ship unprotected. You just happen to be the best qualified for this position."

"There are no lifesigns. The base is empty. What do we need to protect the ship from, Jenna's brain eating monster?"

"The unknown. We don't know what we're going to run into when we go in there so **_please_**, would you stop complaining and just do this?"

"Besides Eddie," Jenna added, "You don't even have to worry about not getting to meet my brain eating monster, because if it does exist and it did manage to kill the entire crew, I'm sure it won't have any problems getting through some shuttlecraft doors."

"Thank you Jenna for that **_comforting _**thought," Eddie replied sarcastically. "If I see him first I'll tell him you say hello, along with your exact coordinates."

"Guys! Come on. Enough!" Wesley was starting to get exasperated. "We're wasting time." He put on his helmet with a reassuring _click_ as it formed an air tight seal. "Eddie, we won't be long. The first thing we should do is establish the data link, so Eddie, I need you to be ready on this end to help out with that. If we're able to get into their system it should certainly be enough work for you to keep you from getting too bored. It will also allow us to tap into their internal sensors so you can keep an eye out for us for any of your brain eating monsters we may encounter."

"Huhm," Eddie said, grunting and sighing at the same time, unconvinced by Wesley's reassurances. "You're the boss, _**apparently**._" Eddie made sure to mutter his last word under his breath, loud enough that Wesley could hear it, but quiet enough that he could deny ever adding it if he was accused.

Wesley purposely ignored his last comment pretending he hadn't heard. He turned to Jenna. "Jenna, you're better with the computers, why don't you be the one work on getting into their systems? While you're doing that I can take some bio scans of the base's atmosphere see if we can pick up anything in their air supply that might have killed them."

"Sure thing, **_boss_**," She added with a mocking tone. It was her turn to give the mock salute to Wesley and Eddie joined in as well, mimicking Jenna's salute to Wesley before turning back to his consol.

"Hey, if one of you would like to take over, by all means, go ahead." Wesley said raising his hands in surrender. "I mean if you have a better idea I have no problem letting someone else take the lead." He looked at both Eddie and Jenna who both shrugged their shoulders, having no real reason to argue with Wesley's plan or tactics.

"We're not complaining," Jenna said, "We simple never saw you as the commanding type."

"Hey, with him turning all commanding like, maybe we should start calling him captain?" Eddie quipped.

"Yeah! You know? Maybe we should. I mean, we've already got the salute down." Jenna gave Eddie another mocking salute which Eddie returned.

"That's a very good point."

"Ok! Ok! Enough!" Wesley begged. "I relent! Now can we please get serious, and maybe even get going? We're wasting oxygen here."

"Alright. We're **_sorry_**," Eddie said.

"We'll get to work now," Jenna replied.

"**_Captain_**…" Eddie added with a smirk. Both Jenna and Eddie snickered under their breath. Jenna was easier to hear than Eddie because their helmets had a built in comm. system but Wesley didn't need that to know Eddie was snickering too. Neither tried to hide it.

"You finished? Let's go." Wesley said not waiting for an answer. He strided over to the air lock and stepped in, Jenna following suit. When the door locked secure the light went on for them to open the base port door.

Wesley hesitated for a moment when he reached for the pad. He didn't know what dangers lay on the other side but suddenly he was afraid. Suddenly he wished it was him back on the shuttle instead of Eddie. Suddenly he wished they had never even voted to come here. Luckily for him, suddenly, was not as long as it seemed in his brain. Through the eyes of Jenna he hesitated for only a split second to contemplate his choice, before pressing the airlock pad to open to the door.

The airlock door swished open.

"Huh…"

_To be continued…_

* * *

_Like my cliffy! I thought so! Well... I hope so at least! Hope you are enjoying the story in general so far! Chapter 7 is already in the works so it should only be a few days for the next chapter! _

_As always! Please review! Even if you hated it! ESPECIALLY if you hated it! I don't mind flames and happen to appreciate some critisism! I like honesty with my work! All good reviews are nice but I can't improve if I don't know what I did wrong! If you just like everything I do,w well then WHOHOO! Go me! Please... do tell! I also happen to enjoy that! _

_Thanks!_


	7. Chapter 7: Hearing Things

_Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't don't own startrek, or any of its characters, or a starbase, or Starfleet. I do own Jenna and Eddie who you are quite free to use so long as you obtain my permission first. _

_Hey peeps! Sorry its been so long! School started so I've had less time to do anything, let alone write. ANYways. Here is my next chapter! Hope you enjoy!_

_Special thanks to:_

_itsonlyme: No problems! School is crazy this year for me too. Not as much time to write. Thanks for the support._

_angw: Thanks, glad you're enjoying it! Hope this new chap is to your liking._

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Chapter 7: Hearing Things

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_

_Wesley hesitated for a moment when he reached for the pad. He didn't know what dangers lay on the other side but suddenly he was afraid. Suddenly he wished it was him back on the shuttle instead of Eddie. Suddenly he wished they had never even voted to come here. Luckily for him, suddenly, was not as long as it seemed in his brain. Through the eyes of Jenna he hesitated for only a split second to contemplate his choice, before pressing the airlock pad to open to the door._

_The airlock door swished open._

"_Huh…"_

"Huh," That was all Wesley could think of to say. It was the exact words of his brain and saying something like, _well that's interesting_, seemed kind of stupid and pointless, not that his grunt was much more substantial. The only real reason he even made a sound was because as team leader he felt compelled to make some sort of comment on the situation to make it sound like he had an opinion. Unfortunately, there wasn't that much to comment on nor have any sort of opinion on.

Wesley and Jenna had opened the airlock doors preparing themselves for the worst. They expected corpses, blood, chaos, or something else along those lines. To their surprise, they found absolutely nothing. No dismembered body parts, no blown up consoles, no unidentifiable green goo, no nothing.

As they stepped through the port they saw the docking area was in perfect working order. All the lighting and consoles were fully functional (and in one piece) and the room itself was spot less. The only thing odd about the room was the fact that there _wasn't_ anything odd about the room. The room was fine.

"So…"

"Yeah… so… um…"

_Great job on the small talk buddy!_ Jenna was looking to Wesley for some sort of command and Wes had no idea of what to say. Not even for small talk. He mentally kicked himself for not coming up with an actual plan before coming to the base. They had _discussed_ what they were going to do in terms of roles of the team, but neither had actually decided where they were going to go. It was a big base and they didn't know where they were going, or even where they were trying to go.

"So… I guess, maybe, we should head to engineering…?" Wesley said, attempting to sound commanding, although he ended up sounding like he was asking a question, which in part he was.

"Yeah, sure," Jenna replied. "It would be a good place to start on setting up an uplink to their computer system. We can also check any logs or recent mission reports they have on file."

"Good idea. Let's go." Wesley said heading out the door. He made an abrupt stop the moment he got out into the corridor. He looked left and then he looked right. "Right… uh, did the shuttle craft computer happen to have any specs on the base layout?"

"Afraid not… Sorry."

"Hmm, well then, I guess we can just pick a direction. I've been to tons of starbases before and they usually have several maps on every floor. We're bound to run into one of them, or if lucky, maybe a turbo lift."

"Sure thing."

"_Well, not that my opinion seems to matter anymore," _Eddie chirped over the comm._ "but may I suggest going left?"_

"Any particular reason for going left?" Wesley asked.

"_I just find it's somehow easier to go right when you're in a hurry. So I figure, if you run into that brain eating monster, it'll be easier for you guysto get away."_

"Not necessarily," Jenna added. "That only works if you're right handed. I happen to be left handed. So if I run into the monster, it'll actually be harder for me to get away."

"_I see no problem with that,"_ Eddie replied.

"Awk!" Jenna scoffed. "Jerk!"

"Play nice you two," Wesley said. "How about we go right?" He turned the corner and started walking.

Jenna joined him walking down the corridor. "By the way Eddie, you are **_so_** gonna pay for that later on."

"_Ooh! I'm scared already."_

"Just wait, and I promise, you_ **will**_ be."

"Ah ha!" Wesley interrupted.

"What?" Jenna asked stopping. "What did you find?"

"A map," Wesley replied pointing to one on the wall. "It says here we're on deck 12, meaning… we have to go down… 3 levels to deck 9. That's where main engineering is and where we'll be able to establish an uplink. There are also a bunch of science labs in that area so we can check those out too. Maybe take some scans of some of the experiments they were doing."

"Ok," Jenna replied. "So, where's the turbo lift?"

"I'm looking…" Wesley said scanning the map with his eyes. "Um, it's just up this corridor and to the left. Hopefully it's functioning as well as the rest of the base seems to be."

"Yeah, hopefully."

Jenna and Wesley headed down the corridor to the turbo lift. When they reached engineering Jenna began exploring their systems and setting up the uplink with Eddie. Meanwhile, Wesley was taking some scans of the area, check the functionality of some of the main power systems. All of them seemed to be in perfect order. He also took some scans of the atmosphere itself. According to his tricorder, there were no detectable toxins in the air and the lifesupport systems were fully functional. From the looks of things, they didn'tactually need the biosuits, but Wesley wasn't ready to take any chances just yet until they had more of an idea of what they were dealing with.

"How's it coming?"

"Uplink is almost set," Jenna replied, fairly engrossed in her work. "Just a few more minutes."

"Sure thing, no rush."

Wesley closed his tricorder and took a good look around the room. It was a fairly standard engineering room, a lot like the one back on the enterprise, only with less propulsion power for obvious reasons. Just as Wesley was about to take a few more scans he heard _it._ Wesley whirled around at the sound of what he thought were foot steps. It sounded like they were coming from the direction of the science labs.

Wesley ran over to the doorway, and stuck his head in looking around. The footsteps had stopped and there was no one there, just some standard science lab equipment, a coffee mug, and an empty chair.

Wesley walked back over to Jenna looking positively baffled.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Jenna replied, too distractedby her work to notice he had even left.

"I don't know. I thought I heard foot steps a minute ago."

"You're probably just hearing things," Jenna replied finally looking up. "It's kind of creepy being all alone here. It's probably just your nerves. Paranoia can make you hear things, play tricks on your ears."

"Yeah… maybe… I don't know. I could have sworn I'd heard **_something_**."

Wesley and Jenna paused for a moment in silence listening for the footsteps.

"I don't hear anything," Jenna said.

"_Me either," Eddie said._

"No duh, you're not even down here Eddie," Wesley replied getting annoyed.

"_And whose fault is that?"_

Wesley didn't reply, too annoyed by Eddie's untimely antics to respond.

"_Yeah, that's what I thought."_

"Well, whatever you did hear, it's obvious gone now, so let's get back to work, ok?"

"Sure, whatever." Wesley said taking one last look towards the science labs. _I don't care what they say_, Wesley thought as he turned back to his scans. _I may not know what I heard, but I know I heard **something.**_

_To be continued…

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Muahhaaha! An almost cliffy ending! Well, at least a definate build in the suspense, which is what I'm going for. Hope you're liking it so far. Next chapter is already in the works so it should be done in a few days when I get some free time! Stupid homework/school getting in the way! Meh! Oh well!_

As always, please review. Whether good or bad, facinating or flaming, I don't care, so long it is honest. I have no probs with flames. If you hate it that much then let it out! So long as you're specific enough with your hate to tell me what I'm doing wrong. It'll help me improve in future stories.

Thanks!


	8. Chapter 8: Nothing to be found

_Disclaimer: Don't own startrek or any of its characters! Jenna and Eddie are my own creation but if you would like to use them in one of your own fics just ask. I can't see me having a problem with it._

_Well now... funny how a few days can turn into a month! Really sorry about that! But with school and work things have gotten CRAZY! I'm supposed to be doing homework right now! Meh! Oh well! I have been ignoring this for too long! Here is the next chap! I'm not going to set a time line for when it will be posted, hopefully within a week or so, but things do come up! It IS coming though! THAT I promise!_

_Special thanks to:_

_NikoMiko625: Ugh! I know! Stupid school and work always getting in my way! Oh, and as for Eddie and Jenna, I was already planning to write that in. Those two are so much fun to write._

_Star Trek Freak: No prob about the time factor! It took me a MONTH to find time to finish this chap, that's sad. As for Wes, I can openly admit I embellish his character abit and I'm fairly sure I have him off in many aspects, but what can I say, I didn't always like the way they wrote him in the series! His dialogue always sucked! So I made a few minor improvements! (at least in my eyes they're improvements)_

* * *

Chapter 8: Nothing to be found

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_Beep beep! Beep beep!_

Wesley looked up from his just completed scans to a frustrated looking Jenna who looked like she was about to strangle her consol. To his relief and disappointment, his scans had shown no toxins or unusual biological organisms in the air. When he checked the air recycling records and life support systems, everything came out clean. Nothing had been added to the atmosphere recently. Hell! Nothing had even been detected within the past month. Medical records showed no one had even gotten sick for nearly two months, although there were a few reported injuries, nothing major though. This _was_ good in that it meant the atmosphere wasn't a threat to them, but it was still bad because it meant they still didn't know what happened to all the people. It just seemed like this mystery was just getting more and more… for lack of a better term… mysterious.

_Beep beep! Beep beep!_

"UGH!" Jenna groaned glaring at consol. "Stupid computer! I hate you, you know that?"

"What's wrong?" Wesley asked tentatively.

"_Obviously something, considering she talking to her computer consol,"_ Eddie responded.

This unfortunately served to make Jenna more angry. "What's wrong? What's WRONG? You wanna know what's WRONG?" Jenna snapped.

"_It's why he asked,"_ Eddie replied.

"Fine! I'll tell you what's wrong!" she said throwing her hands up in defeat. "We can't access anything. And I mean ANYTHING! Mission logs, personal logs, docking schedules, cargo inventory, even recent power usage for the station is classified. Anything that's even slightly related to what ever experiments they were doing over here is classified."

"Well, actually…" Wesley said, slightly scared to risk interrupting her.

"What?" Jenna snapped, whipping around.

"Well… uh. Not _everything _was classified. I _was_ able access their life support systems and even a few of their medical records. That, at least, tells us something."

"_And that would be…"_ Eddie asked curiously.

"That it probably wasn't any type of biological or medical experiments they were doing over here. I did a scan of the atmosphere. Everything checks out. No toxins or recent changes to lifesupport system. Also, there are no reports of anyone even getting sick for the last two months."

"_So we can rule out the - them getting sick and dying, and the mutated monster eating their brains theories?" _Eddie asked.

Wesley raised an eyebrow. "Not entirely, but we can put them at the bottom of the list," he replied.

"_So what _**is** _our current theory?" _Eddie asked.

"Um…" Wesley said looking around for some sort of clue. "I … I have no idea. All we've really managed to get done so far is narrow down the list." He sighed sitting down.

"So… what now?" Jenna asked sitting down beside Wesley looking slightly more calm.

"Well, I guess we can start by taking these off," Wesley said removing his helmet. Jenna did the same. Wesley looked around. "And since we're not going to find much by going through the records, we could just search the labs ourselves. Maybe we'll get lucky and find something, say if someone left a note pad out or something."

"Works for me," Jenna shrugged.

"_Hey guys…"_ Eddie said slyly._ "I'm sure there are_ **a lot **_of labs in this base…Maybe too many for just _**two **_people?"_

Wesley and Jenna just looked at each other and rolled their eyes. That boy was relentless. Wesley nodded to Jenna in consent and she tapped her communicator.

"Alright Eddie! You can come down now. Just stop your whining."

"_On my way,"_ he replied. They could practically hear the skip in his step.

"I swear! It's like working with a two year old. I **_so_** did not sign up for Starfleet for this!"

"Yeah… well…I'm sure he'll mature… in…. time" Wesley said, not totally believing his words.

"**_Sure_**… you keep telling yourself that." Jenna replied sarcastically.

"It could happen," Wesley said, still not sounding very convincing. "Just talk to him a year after he gets posted. You probably won't even recognize him."

"Un huh? I'll keep that in mind," Jenna said, a smirk growing on her lips.

" It could happen!" Wesley was thensilent for a moment thinking it over. "Well... Yeah, you're right. He's never gonna change."

"It was a nice thought though." Jenna replied.

"Yeah... yeah, well... No. Oh well." Wesley said shrugging.

A few minutes later, Eddie arrived and they began their search of the compound. Each sporting tri-corders, they decided to go deck by deck, as apparently, there were quite a few science labs on the base. A lot more than they had anticipated when they decided to begin their search.

They started on deck one, and were working their way down. On the first deck they found some hydroponic experiments. The doctor of the ship had apparently been attempting to grow a new breed of tomatoes that were supposed to be, according to her notes, tastier when mixed with basil. While it was certainly an interesting experiment, they doubted the tomatoes had anything to do with disappearance of the crew. On deck two the labs were completely empty, and were currently being used for storage of food rations. Decks three and four were was just crew quarters and deck five used mainly for recreational facilities.

Finally by deck six, they appeared to have found some more promising laboratories. Unfortunately, there were four of them. Getting slightly annoyed at their slow moving search they decided to split up and each take a lab to search on their own.

"Once you're finished your search, meet back here at the turbo lift," Wesley instructed. "If anything happens, inform the group right away. Don't do anything stupid," Wesley looked in Eddie's direction, "and don't dismiss something as nothing. Something small could be more dangerous than you know."

"We know, we know," Eddie taunted. "Don't worry **_mom!_**"

"Geeze," Jenna said in a mocking tone, "and I thought **_I _**was the paranoid one. You were all gung ho to come here in the first place Wes, and now," she said turning to Eddie, "poor boy's got his panties in twist."

Eddie shook his head in a mocking reverence. "So sad when these things happen! He was so young" He said in over dramatic wail pretending to cry into his hands.

Wesley had to fight off a grin while trying to look insulted instead. "You! …. Ugh… Oh shut up! I hate you guys!"

Jenna and Eddie burst into a fit of giggles, leaning on each other for support.

"Just… just GO! Ok?" Wesley said exhasberatedlywalking off towards one of the science labs while shaking his head. "I hope that brain eating monster gets you both!" He shouted behind him. As he turned back one final time he smirked as he saw Jenna give a fairly surprised looking Eddie that smack she'd promised him over the comm. earlier. _This is going to be a looonnng day _Wesley thought to himself taking on a more serious tone. He had not forgotten the foot steps he had heard earlier. They still meant something, he just wasn't sure what that was yet.

_To be continued…_

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_Ok! So it's kinda filler, I know! But its necessary filler! I promise far more suspence in the next chap! I just had to set it up so I would be able to do it! ANYways! Hope you enjoyed it anyways!_

_Please, as always, review! Whether good or bad, fabulous or flaming! I just want honesty ( and reviews in general). I love getting critisism cuz it helps me improve so feel free, and if you do hate it enough to flame, by all means, flame, at least I know! I'd rather get a bad review than no review, or pointless fluffy one! (Not that I don't like getting praised! Everyone likes getting those:-)_

_Thanks!_


	9. Chapter 9: War of the Worlds

_Disclaimer: Don't own startrek or any of its characters... blah blah blah!_

_Hey! I'm back! At least it wasn't a whole month for me to update even if it was longer than I expected! So here is the next chap! Finally something happens in it! But I won't spoil it for ya! Just read on and you will see! Enjoy!_

* * *

Chapter 9: War of the Worlds

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Hummmmmmmm………_

Wesley sighed as he sat down in a lab chair. He closed his eyes listening to the soothing sound of the base, the constant hum of power of being sent to all parts of the ship. In his eyes this was the sound of purpose, the sound of life. The base was alive, working away at its daily tasks even though its crew was missing. It had always been a calming sound to Wesley, one that most people didn't even notice, especially after living on a ship or base for a long time. But having been on a dead, powerless ship had made him more appreciate this sound. It was his safeguard from the silence of space, the kind of silence that only came with death, the one time when you were truly alone.

Wesley opened his eyes and stood up, looking the lab over once more. He had volunteered to investigate the fourth lab because both his were smaller than the ones Jenna and Eddie were scanning. He had just finished scanning Lab # 3 and was disappointed, but not surprised, to find nothing out of the ordinary. The lab wasn't even in use but, for the sake of being thorough, he had looked it over anyways.

Wesley was just about to leave when suddenly, he heard something. This time it wasn't foot steps. It was something more. He craned his around straining his ears to try and decipher what it exactly it was. It sounded like some sort of faint buzzing noise or a static, but he couldn't be sure. The strange thing though, was it wasn't coming from a particular direction. Instead, it was all around him, and it was getting louder.

Louder and louder it got. Wesley gasped covering his ears trying to protect them from the earth-shattering sound. It was deafening, and then, like stepping through a thresh hold, it clarified. The buzzing disappeared and all that was left was the sound of people at work. The lab had come alive with the sounds of movement and daily activities but, for some strange reason, no one could be seen.

Amidst the sounds of movement two voices could also be heard in the distance. They were arguing but they weren't in this room. They were in the fourth lab where Wesley was about to go. He rushed across the corridor into the other room, hearing the sounds of foot steps as he passed. People on their way to their next shift, he supposed. But why could he hear them and who were those two voices?

As he got closer the voices grew louder. He reached the center of the room and was now in the center of the argument between a man and a woman.

"_This is all your fault, you know that?"_

"_My fault? How is any of this MY fault? It was your idea in the first place!"_

"_Don't even try and blame this on me! I may have started this but you were the one who finished it! You were the one who put us here! Now look at us!"_

"_Just because I –_

"_Wait!"_

"_What –_

"_Hold on a sec! Don't make a sound." _The other person paused._ "Do you hear that?"_

Wesley searched the room for whatever they seemed to hear. He didn't hear anything beyond what they were saying though.

"_What is it? What do you hear?"_

"_I think there's someone in here. I can hear them breathing."_

With this comment, Wesley eyes grew wide. Could they hear him? And who are _they_? Wesley held his breath.

"_Are you sure its not just one of us?"_

"_Yes, I'm sure," _the person said sounding more annoyed.

They were silent for another moment.

"_I don't hear anything…"_

"_I was sure I heard something," _the person responded, sounding slightly mystified.

"_Well," _the other person replied, sounding like they were gathering up their possessions, _"I don't hear anything, and I have a meeting to get to at 08:00 so I'm going to bed. But this conversation is not over." _Wesley heard foot steps walking towards the door.

"_Fine, we'll talk about it tomorrow." _Wesley heard the foot the foot steps leave the room. Another pair of hands was gathering up objects that Wesley couldn't see. Wesley had to say something. If they could hear him, he had to know.

"Hello?" he asked unsure if he would receive an answer.

"_Huh? Who said that?"_

"You can hear me?"

"_Yes. Who are you? Or a better question, where are you? How did you get in here?"_

"I'm -

"Cadet Garason to Cadet Crusher," Eddie's voice interrupted as it sounded over the comm. "Hey Wes, what's taking so long?"

Wesley blinked a moment before responding, still caught up in the shock of hearing these voices. Wesley tapped on his comm. badge. "Eddie, hold on a sec, I –Ahh!" Wesley cried. He grabbed his ears, dropping to his knees as the static suddenly seized him, blasting in his ears and in his mind, drowning out the voices of the both worlds.

"_Hello? Hello… Are you still there…what's happen…" _The voice faded into the static.

For a few more moments all Wesley could hear was the mind numbing static. He couldn't block it out, and then, just as suddenly as it has seized him, there was silence. Wesley sighed, panting as he let go of his head, relishing in the soft hum of the starbase engines.

Suddenly, Jenna and Eddie burst into the room, rushing to his side.

"Wes! Oh my god, what happened? Are you alright?" Jenna asked looking genuinely concerned.

"Yeah man," Eddie said, he too looked concerned, "you just yelled in mid sentence, and then you wouldn't respond. We thought maybe that brain eating monster had actually gotten you."

"What?" Wesley replied, still feeling dazed. "Oh, um, I'm fine. I just tripped. That's all. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Jenna asked, not looking convinced.

"Yeah… yeah. Uh, let's get out of here, ok? We still have more decks to search ok?"

"Yeah, sure," Jenna replied.

"You find anything down here?" Eddie asked suspiciously.

"No… no, nothing at all."

_To be continued…_

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So there ya go! Another chap neatly wrapped up! A bit of a cliffy in the sence that it leaves ya with more mystery! Hope you enjoyed it! It was fun to write!The next chap is coming soon!

As always, please review! Whether good or bad, fab or flaming, I don't care! Just be honest! If you hate it that much then flame away, just also include what I'm doing wrong! I don't mind critisism! It helps me improve!

Thanks a bazzillion!


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